of the Bath election committee, who, when corruption was proved against the corporation, decided that every person paying scot and lot in that city were entitled to vote. Thus establishing a principle which, if acted upon in other places in England, would introduce a far greater change in the representative system, than ever could be effected by the measure which I have recommended. I despair of ever seeing the representative franchise transferred from a rotten borough to a populous manufacturing district, unless in some such way as that which I have mentioned. I am anxious that the fair claims of these great towns to send representatives to Parliament should be strongly impressed upon the legislature. It is upon such grounds that I support the motion of the noble lord. The motion would certainly have been more satisfactory to me if it had gone-as I, the other night, recommended the House to do, to transfer at once the franchise from East Retford to the populous and important town of Birmingham; but I hope that, however the noble lord and myself may differ in some details on the road, we shall arrive together at the end of our journey.

The House divided: For Lord John Russell's motion, 140. Against it, 188. Majority against the motion, 48.

LORD PALMERSTON'S MOTION RESPECTING THE AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL.

March 10.

This day Lord Palmerston moved for the production of sundry Papers, to explain the part which the British Government had taken in the Affairs of Portugal. The motion having been supported by Lord John Russell, Lord Morpeth, Mr. E. Davenport, and Sir Francis Burdett, and opposed by Mr. Herries, Mr. Calcraft, and Mr. Secretary Peel,

Mr. HUSKISSON rose and said :

The motion of my noble friend is not founded upon idle

curiosity, or a wish to intermeddle improperly in the diplomatic transactions of this country with other states. But surely, Sir, it will not be denied to us, that it is the right and duty of Parliament to watch over, and if necessary to control the foreign policy of the Government. Surely it will not be denied to us, that it is one of our highest functions to enquire how far that policy is consistent with the permanent interests of the country; and above all, that it becomes us not to neglect that duty, when a question has arisen, and is now pending, which affects not only the public interest, but the honour, the good name, and the station of England in the estimation of the world.

*

Sir, it was well observed, at the beginning of the session, by my right honourable friend, the member for Invernessshire, that, for the two last years, Parliament had, in a manner, abdicated all exercise of its just authority in those respects. He was certainly correct, and I can only say, that I wish we may not some day have cause to repent of that neglect. If ministers deserve the praise of having, during that period, deferred to the judgment of Parliament, and the influence of public opinion, and sacrificed their own, upon some questions of the highest importance in our domestic policy, is it too much to enquire, whether, by the like course, a more salutary direction might not have been given to their foreign policy. In foreign policy the Government has had its own way-in the great feature of our domestic policy it has wisely yielded to an impulse not its own; and I think I may state as the result, that if it stands high for the latter conduct, it has acquired any thing but credit for the former, in the estimation of the intelligent and well-informed, not only of England, but of every country of Europe, in which political discussion is permitted, and in which men are allowed to take an interest in public affairs.

It would lead me into too wide a field for the debate of this evening, if I were to compare generally the situation in which this country now stands, with that which it occupied before we fell into this state of apathy and indifference to our foreign concerns. I may, however, be permitted to state-and I do it without fear of contradiction-that when that great calamity befel England, the death of Mr. Canning, this country was respected and looked up to, from one end of Europe to the other-every where the real friends of order, of peace, of national improvement, felt a just confidence, that, with Mr. Canning at the head of affairs, England was on their side; that she was not likely to countenance, by her counsels or her conduct, the mischievous schemes and restless views of either of the two extreme parties, which unfortunately exist, more or less, in every part of the continent-equally adverse to the incredible, but highly dangerous folly of those who are endeavouring to bring every thing in the institutions of civil society back to what they were before the French revolution, and of those who wish to revive and again call into activity the spoliating spirit of that revolution, and again to demolish the landmarks of property, and disturb the peace and settlement of Europe, as fixed in the year 1815.

Whatever, Sir, may be the defects of the general arrangements among the great powers of Europe made at that period, they have certainly preserved it in peace; and the nations have become so sensible of its blessings, that the statesman must be little less than insane who seeks to revive the calamities of war. For my own part, I must declare, that I abjure all community of feeling with those who wish again to disturb the repose of Europe. Nothing but the preservation of national honour, or of national independence, could justify a renewal of hostilities.

It has been truly stated, that Mr. Canning had no share in the formation of the Portuguese constitution; and the

fact is so notorious, that no arguments are required to prove it. But that Mr. Canning never interfered concerning this constitution is, Sir, a very different proposition. I am able to bear my personal testimony to the feelings of Mr. Canning on the subject of the Portuguese constitution; for it so happened, that I was in his company when tidings were transmitted from Paris of that constitution having been brought to Europe by Sir Charles Stuart, and the mode in which it had been received in Portugal, and the vexation expressed by him upon the occasion was extreme. He took great pains to make it known that he had not advised the giving of that constitution; but since it had been given, he did not refuse it his counteConsidering who was the bearer of that constitution to Europe, and considering the activity of Sir Charles Stuart, who was stated, in a despatch of Sir William A'Court, to be solicitous for its adoption, it was a very natural inference on the part of the Portuguese, that this country was anxious to support it.

In the autumn after it had been sent to Europe, it was acknowledged by persons of all classes in Portugal; and when a faction, supported by Spain, or as it was described by Mr. Canning, "a furious fanatical cabal swaying the King of Spain in his own cabinet," and supplied with arms and stores from thence, made its appearance in opposition to the constitution, a force was sent by Great Britain to protect Portugal from the invasion. After such conduct, it was in vain to state that we did not undertake to defend the constitution against foreign enemies: from that moment the connection between Great Britain and Portugal was identified with the maintenance of those free institutions, and from that moment Portugal was necessarily divided into two parties-British and Spanish. I can further assert, that from the moment our ambassador at Vienna signed the protocol concerning the government of Por

tugal, from that moment we were as much bound by his acts, as if his Majesty's Government had sent out special instructions to him upon that subject, and he had communicated the fact of having received those instructions to the other parties engaged in the negotiation. Yet my right honourable friend has referred to the papers connected with that negotiation, and has contended from them, that in consequence of Sir Henry Wellesley having received no instructions from his Majesty's Government, therefore that Government was not bound by his acts.

Now, Sir, let the House see how that statement agrecs with the facts. In adverting to the present point in dispute, I am not about to betray any information which I may have obtained, while holding a place in his Majesty's council. I will state nothing but what I have heard from others-nothing except what has been made matter of the most perfect notoriety-nothing but what has been supplied from documents already published; and the House will see that my right honourable friend has not stated all the facts of the case. Nothing can be more distinct and explicit than the statement put forth-that it was the first object of the British Government to establish peace between the different branches of the House of Braganza, and to maintain the constitution sent to Portugal by Don Pedro. Of that principle Sir Henry Wellesley was perfectly apprised; and nothing, I confess, could exceed the surprise with which I heard my right honourable friend, the President of the Board of Trade, give a denial to such a statement. I shall, Sir, be able to show, from documents already before the public, that the British Ambassador at Vienna was instructed, and did all in his power, to bring about the maintenance of the Portuguese constitution of Don Pedro. It is not denied in any quarter, Sir, that that constitution had an advocate in the negotiations at Vienna. Now, does any one suppose